The New York Metropolis man charged with killing a senior Queens couple after which setting their home on fireplace throughout a horrific residence invasion in September had additionally tried to empty their financial institution accounts earlier than utilizing their bank cards to go on a purchasing spree, prosecutors stated Tuesday.
Jamel McGriff, a serial theft suspect on parole, pleaded not responsible Tuesday to a number of counts of homicide, kidnapping and arson, based on Queens District Legal professional Melinda Katz’s workplace.
The 42-year-old Bronx resident is charged within the Sept. 8 killings of Frank Olton, 76, and Maureen Olton, 77, of their residence within the New York Metropolis borough of Queens.
Prosecutors say McGriff had been going door-to-door asking residents if he may are available to cost his cellphone. They are saying he spoke with Frank Olton, who had supplied to assist, earlier than McGriff compelled his method into the couple’s residence, the place he remained for practically 5 hours.
Firefighters responding to a report of a home fireplace discovered Frank Olton’s physique within the basement tied to a pole and with a number of stab wounds to his neck and chest. Maureen Olton’s badly burned physique was present in the lounge.
Prosecutors in court docket Tuesday stated McGriff had set the home on fireplace in an try and destroy proof of the killings, the Every day Information reviews. They stated Maureen Olton seems to have been tied to a chair and strangled to demise.
Prosecutors stated McGriff additionally unsuccessfully tried to switch greater than $10,000 from the couple’s accounts to his personal.
He took the couple’s bank cards as effectively, spending practically $800 on garments at a Macy’s in midtown Manhattan simply hours after the killings, they stated. McGriff was caught the next day after going to a film in Instances Sq., prosecutors stated in court docket Tuesday, the Every day Information reviews.
The convicted felon, who was on parole after serving 16 years in jail, was ordered held till his subsequent court docket date on Nov. 12. If convicted, McGriff faces a most sentence of life in jail with out the opportunity of parole.
The Authorized Support Society, which is representing McGriff, stated in a press release Tuesday that it’s within the early phases of investigating the case and urged the general public “not to attract any conclusions till all of the information are recognized.”
